The state-orchestrated financialization of housing in Turkey

YEŞİLBAĞ M.

HOUSING POLICY DEBATE, vol.30, no.4, pp.533-558, 2020 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 30 Issue: 4
  • Publication Date: 2020
  • Doi Number: 10.1080/10511482.2019.1670715
  • Journal Name: HOUSING POLICY DEBATE
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, ABI/INFORM, Agricultural & Environmental Science Database, EconLit, Sociological abstracts
  • Page Numbers: pp.533-558
  • Keywords: financialization, neoliberalism, Turkey, housing, securitization, mortgage markets, POLITICAL-ECONOMY, SECONDARY CIRCUIT, URBAN MOVEMENTS, SPATIAL FIXITY, GLOBALIZATION, FINANCIALISATION, GEOGRAPHIES, GOVERNANCE, FINANCE, LIMITS
  • Ankara University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This study presents an assessment of the political economy of housing in contemporary Turkey in conversation with the main issues of the financialization of housing (FoH) debate. Since the early 2000s, the built-environment scene in Turkey has been undergoing a radical transformation toward a situation characterized by growing penetration of financial concerns into the housing sector. FoH in Turkey, however, is remarkably different from typical Global North examples in terms of the current depth of the process, prevalent mechanisms, leading components, and driving actors. The Turkish case is characterized by a relatively small financial footprint generating an unprecedented construction boom, under the command of a decisive and persistent state strategy. Going well beyond the enabling/facilitating role of states covered in the existing literature, this strategy represents a case in which the state itself effectively drives the housing-finance nexus.